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Trump Likely to Sign Border Deal, Avert Another Shutdown

KEVIN LAMARQUE/Reuters

By The Fiscal Times Staff

February 13, 2019

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Lawmakers are scrambling to finalize their compromise package on spending and border security — and resolve a few lingering differences — but once they’re done, President Trump is expected to grudgingly sign the deal and keep the government from shutting down again after midnight Friday.

“I don’t want to see a shutdown. A shutdown would be a terrible thing,” Trump said Wednesday, adding that White House aides will be “looking for land mines” once the legislative text of the funding package becomes available.

Lawmakers reportedly hope to have that text out Wednesday evening, with votes expected in the House on Thursday night and in the Senate after that. The order of the votes may change, and House Appropriations Chairwoman Nita Lowey (D-NY) warned in an interview with Bloomberg that the release of the package could get pushed back to Thursday.

“There’s a long list of all kinds of things in there,” Lowey said. “Anything could stop the deal at this late stage.” Still, Democrats and Republicans expressed confidence that majorities in each party would support the final legislation.

Quote of the Day

“If he signed the [border] bill, based on what has reported and suggested is in the bill, and did nothing else, it would be political suicide. If he signed the bill, based on the way that we believe the bill to be, and takes other methods to obtain funding for additional border security measures, then I think there’s very little political liability from conservatives.”

– Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, on the prospect of President Trump signing the border deal and then pursuing additional wall funding via executive order